Museums Saxony-Anhalt

Historical Museum and Bach Memorial Castle Köthen

Köthen

The History Museum and the Bach Memorial are located in the Ludwigsbau ("Ludwig Building") of the Köthen Castle. The heart of the exhibitions is the Bach Memorial, which pays tribute to Johann Sebastian Bach's activities as chapel master of the court of Köthen from 1717 to 1723. The "Hall of Mirrors" – the neoclassical former throne room – and the in 1991 renovated castle chapel with Baroque features and a working organ (from 1754) are well worth making part of your tour. A permanent exhibition of the museum is dedicated to the history of homeopathy in Köthen and to homeopathy's two founding representatives, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (1755 – 1843) and Dr. Arthur Lutze (1813 – 1870), as well as to the Late Romantic Joseph von Eichendorff, who lived in Köthen in 1849 and 1855, and to the "Fruitbearing Society", the first literary society ever formed in Germany. Founded in 1617 by Prince Louis the First of Anhalt-Köthen (1579 – 1650), it was based at Köthen Castle.
The temporary special exhibitions on regional and town history, the monthly "Museum Talks" and the "Vitrine of the Month" also always offer our visitors something new and interesting.